THE fourth chapter of Hebrews is the classic of all literature dealing with the Sabbath question. Coupled with Colossians 1:16-17, it furnishes a final answer to all those Judaizing teachers who insist that the believer of this age is duty bound to observe the Sabbath day, and that none can be saved who fail to observe it. It answers in a most satisfying manner all the questions which may have arisen in the hearts of God's children because of such false teachings, and in so doing it dispels the clouds of doubt and fear which such questions have produced. Not only so, but it also affords a glorious revelation of the grace of God and fills the believer's heart with rapturous joy in beholding a fresh vision of his Saviour's love.

I. THE WARNING EXPRESSED

Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it (Hebrews 4:1-2).

THIS chapter opens with a warning against unbelief. This warning is based upon the conclusion of the preceding chapter, which says that when they came up to the promised land the first time the children of Israel could not enter in because of unbelief. It calls attention to the fact that that generation had the Gospel preached to them, but were not profited by it because they did not believe it. And it uses this fact to point a warning lest we, to whom also the Gospel has been preached, should fall after the same example of unbelief and thereby fail to enter into the rest of God.

Apart from the unpardonable sin, which is a form of unbelief and rebellion, unbelief is the worst sin men can commit. From every other God has provided salvation, but for salvation from the sin of unbelief no provision has been made. And inasmuch as salvation both from the penalty and power of every other sin rests upon faith in God's provision in Christ Jesus, the sin of unbelief makes it impossible for God to save men from other sins. Unbelief kept Israel out of the promised land until the carcasses of the men of that generation lay rotting in the wilderness. It keeps the sinner from salvation; and though he is saved by his initial act of faith, unbelief keeps the soul who has trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour from the joy of his salvation.

What a terrible thing is unbelief!

An example of the damning power of unbelief is found in John 3:18. The Spirit has just finished telling of God's love in giving His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life, and then He says,

He that believeth in Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God.

And the hideousness of this sin is shown in I John 5:io:

He that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son.

Now let it be borne in mind that to show the folly' of unbelief and to save men from it by leading them to trust the Lord Jesus Christ is the preeminent purpose of this Scripture which we are studying. From first to last this is uppermost. It may not seem, at first thought, that this has any special connection with the Sabbath, but the connection will become apparent as we proceed; and to bear in mind that the Spirit is seeking to save men from the sin of unbelief will help one to understand many things which otherwise would be confusing.

II. THE REST PROVIDED

For we which have believed do enter into rest, as He said, As I have sworn in My wrath, if they shall enter into My rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

For He spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works.

And in this place again, If they shall enter into My rest.

Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

Again, He limited a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time; as it is said. Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.

For if Jesus had given them rest, then would He not afterward have spoken of another day.

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God (Hebrews 4:3-9).

THIS passage next assures us that God has provided a rest for His people. It opens with the testimony, "We which have believed do enter into rest." It then, calls attention to the fact that in speaking of Israel's failure to enter His rest, God made provision that others might enter. It identifies this rest as the Sabbath rest, and then it repudiates the idea that the entrance into the promised land under the leadership of Joshua (here called "Jesus" according to the Septuagint translation of the word "Joshua") was the fulfillment of this promise. This is deduced logically from the fact that even after the children of Israel had entered the promised land, God yet spoke of another day of opportunity. And finally it concludes with the words:

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God (Hebrews 4:3-9).

It is evident from this that God has made it possible for men to enter into His rest, and it is also evident that we are still in the day of opportunity.

This passage indicates what the Sabbath rest means from the national standpoint. Israel's failure to enter into the promised land under the leadership of Moses is interpreted as a failure to enter into the rest of God. And while she did enter the land under the leadership of Joshua, her possession of the land and her enjoyment of the promised blessings was only partial. Something better has been provided for her. From other Scriptures we know that Israel will once more enter into the land of promise, this time under the captaincy of Another, of whom Moses and Joshua were only types. Israel's final entrance into the promised land, when she will enjoy to the full the blessings promised to Abraham, will be in the Sabbath of the ages, the seventh dispensation, the Millennial Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ This is one reason the Scripture says,

If Jesus (Joshua) had given them rest, then would He (the Lord) not afterward have spoken of another day (Heb. 4:8).

For Israel the final day of opportunity will be the Kingdom of Christ. This is the national meaning of the Sabbath type. It is then that the nation Israel will enter into the rest of God. And it is to be noted that when Israel enters the blessings of the Kingdom it will be with joyous faith in her Messiah, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.

But from the personal angle the Sabbath type has another meaning. We shall shortly see the explanation which is given in the Scripture itself. But before we turn our attention to this let us pause to emphasize two facts which are of great importance if we are to apprehend the force of the explanation which follows.

The first fact is this: this passage identifies the rest of God with the Sabbath day. This it does with unmistakable clarity. First it quotes the Scripture which says,

God did rest the seventh day from all His works (Gen. 2:2).

Then it reverts to its former quotation from the Old Testament:

And in this place again, If they shall enter into My rest (Heb. 4:5).

The Spirit of God here uses His rest as synonymous with! the Sabbath. To any reasonable and fair-minded man this is demonstration. To enter into the rest of God is a keeping of Sabbath. This is further emphasized by the fact that the literal translation of Hebrews 4:9 is,

There remaineth therefore bath to the people of God.

The second fact which this Scripture states, and which we wish to emphasize, is this: to believe is to enter with which this particular part of the discussion opens:

We which have believed do enter into rest (Heb.. 4:3).

It is evident from this that the way to enter into the rest of God. (or in keeping, with the other statements of the Scripture to keep Sabbath) is simply to believe. From other Scriptures we know that by believing here must be meant believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as one's personal Saviour, for no faith which is not Christ-centered can avail. This is seen in Acts 16:31 which says, says,

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.

Not all who simply believe something are saved, for this would include all the heathen, but only those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That this is the meaning of the testimony which we are considering is apparent when we consider also the context, for it appears in the heart of an extended discussion directed toward leading the. reader to put his faith in Christ. This passage lit teaches, then, that the only way one can enter into the rest of God is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and to fail to believe in Him will keep one from entering that rest.

III. THE EXPLANATION AFFORDED

For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His (Heb. 4:10).

NOW what does it mean to enter into the rest of the Lord? Since the Spirit so clearly identifies this rest with the Sabbath, if we can ascertain what it means to enter into the rest of God, we will also learn what is God's ideal of Sabbath keeping. The next verse in this passage is tremendously significant. It is the inspired interpretation of all that the Scripture teaches about the Sabbath. Face once more its clear statement:

For he that entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His (Heb. 4:10).

To enter into the rest of God is first of all to cease from one's own works. But there is a positive side to this, as well. We are to cease from our own works "as God did from His." Now how did God cease from His own works.? If we will turn to Genesis i:i-2 to which this verse refers we will gain new light on its meaning. These verses read.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made (Gen. 2:1-2).

God rested from His work because His work was finished. This makes the explanation very lucid. The believer is to rest from his own works because a work has been finished, and this can be none other than the finished work wrought upon the Cross of Calvary by the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the significance of the typical Sabbath day. Six days the children of Israel were to labour, gathering the manna for their daily food. But on the seventh no labour was to be done. They were to rest, and they were to feed upon, the manna which God had miraculously provided and prepared especially for their use on that day (Ex. 16:16-30). If on any other day they gathered more than was necessary for the day and left it over, by the next day it had bred worms and stank. But on the Sabbath day the manna gathered the day before was still pure and sweet. The Lord Jesus Christ interpreted the meaning of the manna in the sixth chapter of John when He said,

I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread he shall live forever (John 6:51).

And later He said.

This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live forever (John 6:58).

What a beautiful type is this! It is a message of salvation Ly grace." The children of Israel- were to cease from their own works. They were not to gather manna on the seventh day. They were to feed upon the bread which God had sent from heaven and preserved for their use by a miracle of grace, which was typical of the Lord Jesus Christ. How could the Spirit more plainly have told us in the language of typology that salvation. was entirely by grace without any works of our own? Men were not to labour on the Sabbath, even for their necessary food, and every one who did so was to be put to death (Ex. 35:2). God will not brook any mingling of human works with the finished work of. Christ.

Herein lies one of the clearest revelations of the into the rest of God. This is the' force of the testimony folly of those who tell us that we must keep the Sabbath day in order to be saved. This is one of the forms and ceremonies of the ritual of Israel. All attempts to keep it arc works of man's righteousness. And the Scripture plainly says,

Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He saved us (Titus 3:5).

To attempt to be saved by Sabbath keeping, according to the ordinance of the Law, is to do violence to the Scriptures which teach salvation by grace.

But on the other hand to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour is to enter into an eternal Sabbath keeping. It is to become part of the body of which the eld Sabbath ordinance was only a type. It is to become part of the substance which cast the shadow embodied m the Sabbath days and in all other ordinances of Jewish ritual. This is the meaning of Colossians 2:16-17,

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ (Col. 2:16-17).

For a soul simply to trust the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour, then, is to enter into the Sabbath rest of God. In this connection let us remind ourselves once more of two facts which we have already faced. The first h that the tenor of this whole passage is that unbelief is folly and men should trust the Saviour; and the other is that the Scripture definitely and unequivocally says,

We which have believed do enter into rest (Heb. 4:3).

Some points of Bible interpretation may be subject to question, but here is one which cannot be questioned. God's Word plainly says that truly to keep the Sabbath is simply to cease from all our own works and to rest by faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The message of the Sabbath type is the same message which is stated in Ephesians 2:8-9,

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God:

Not of works, lest any man should boast (Eph. 2:8-9).

Since salvation by grace is the fulfillment of the Sabbath type, and since the believer by faith becomes a member of the Body which cast the shadow embodied in the Sabbath day of the Old Testament, how foolish it is to worry about keeping the Sabbath day. To do so is as foolish as for a man to chase his own shadow. Yes, it is worse. For a believer to attempt to keep the Sabbath day with any thought that this can add anything to his salvation or that to fail to do so can detract from it is to "fall from grace." We do not say to lose his salvation, for this is not the meaning of this expression in the Scripture. But for the believer to fall into such a delusion is for him to believe a lie which logically annihilates the grace of God. No wonder the Apostle Paul said of such,

But now, after that ye have known God, or rather arc known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.

I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain (Gal. 4:9-11).

Our discussion of this subject would be incomplete, however, if we failed to recognize the application of this truth to the life of the believer. After a soul has trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour from the penalty of sin, and is fully persuaded that his works have nothing to do with this salvation, yet to enter fully into the joy of salvation he needs to make the application of this principle in another direction. The believer may enjoy victory over sin and power in service on exactly the same basis as that on which he received his salvation from the penalty of sin. And this is the only way he can experience these things. Victory over sin and power in service are not obtained by self-effort, but only by ceasing from our own works and resting in the work of Christ. We need to learn that

It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13).

And we need further to learn the truth of the Saviour' words:

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for WITHOUT ME YE CAN DO NOTHING (John 15:5-6).

It is a blessed good thing when a believer learns in the realm of Christian living to enter into the rest of God. We are very slow to recognize how full and complete is the truth of the Scripture which says.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: for old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new.

And all things are of God, Who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation (II Cor. 5:17-18).

How blessed it is when we learn to cease our starving and straining to overcome sin or to do our Lord's bidding, and simply yield ourselves into His hands for Him to work in us according to His own good pleasure, When we have learned this lesson we will be able to testify with the Apostle Paul:

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Gal. 2:20).

IV. THE INVITATION EXTENDED

Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief (Heb. 4:11).

NOW notice the invitation which concludes this section. The thought of faith is still uppermost in the mind of the Spirit, for the exhortation to "labour" to enter into that rest is given "lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." This emphasizes the truth which we have already discussed. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the one and only way to enter the rest of God.

But the words "Let us labour to enter into that rest" seem contradictory. If (as we have seen the Scripture plainly teaches) to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way to enter into the Sabbath rest of God, and if to enter into this rest means that one has ceased from his own works, what can it mean that we should "labour" to enter into it.'' The explanation of this difficulty lies in a mistranslation in the King James version. The word translated "labour" in the original is the Greek word spoudadzo which literally means "be diligent," and which is so translated in Titus 3:12 and II Peter 3:14. Some lexicographers give the meaning of this word as "to use haste or speed" and the evidence points to this as its primary meaning. This sheds radiant light upon what otherwise would be a very perplexing Scripture. This passage is not exhorting men to make any effort to enter into the rest of God by their own labours. If it were doing so it would be entirely inconsistent with the plain teaching of the rest of the passage, and of many other Scriptures whose meaning is unmistakably clear. Rather this is an exhortation for an immediate decision to trust the Saviour. It implies the necessity of' speed. As to Israel God said.

Today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts (Heb. 3:15),

so He is saying to men today,

Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation (II Cor. 6:2).

Now there is another thing involved in this Scripture to which we must briefly call attention. In exhorting us to be diligent to enter into that rest, the Spirit of God is assuring us that we may enter into it. In this appears the invitation which is extended to all men everywhere. Surely it behooves us immediately to respond to it. If we have not already trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, let us do so at once. Let us cease working for our salvation (for to suppose that salvation must be obtained by our own good works is the fatal error in all false religions and in the philosophies of the natural man) and let us trust the Lord Jesus Christ as the One Who can save our souls from hell by virtue of His shed blood. And if we have trusted Him as our Saviour from the penalty of sin, let us stop depending upon the power of our own wills, and let us quietly rest in

Him Who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the throne of His presence with exceeding joy (Jude 24),

Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6).

Let us forget "days and months and times and years" and by joyous faith in the Lord Jesus Christ let us begin really to "keep Sabbath" every day in the year.